Re: Should newbies be steered to the latest version of Ubuntu?

Originally Posted by ikt

Did you make any posts or ask for any help with these?

No, did not ask or post. Just hacking around and reading all over I resolved:
- Indirectly-supported printer in the office (SuSE driver worked great as Dell did not have one for Ubuntu)
- Setup of VMWare Player (after failures with VMWare Server and Virtualbox)
- Installation of much software from a Konsole
- Working with the NIC from a Konsole
- Remotely managing servers using KDE's RDP/VNC application (very nice)
...and so on.

I'm used to providing support to others, finding fixes online via Google, and working my way through my own problems (and my users'). I got overwhelmed by all the problems/adjustments and eventually accepted that transitioning from Windows to GNU/Linux will take months of concerted effort, not just a couple weeks of determined hacking. I ran out of time this go-around and the Linux project must rest on the back burner along with a thousand other things until I can scare up some free time to pound through more transition issues. In the meantime, I have a VMWare appliance of Ubuntu 8.04 (LTS) that is getting a little time each day.

Next time I will go ahead, swallow some pride, and post. What the heck, rgarand3006 isn't my real name anyway. Out here, nobody knows I'm a dog.

As far as "it's easier to complain", I really want to see Microsith get a lot more competition so this industry's products can be improved through competition. I WANT Linux to succeed and I sincerely believe that tossing newbies into the deep end of the pool by pushing them towards the absolute latest release is often counterproductive. It reminds me of my high school buddy who majored in Computer Science. The attrition rate was incredibly high and this didn't (and doesn't) bother the vast majority of College CS Departments. In my experience of teaching in various scenarios, such a high attrition rate would get me fired. Again, there's different philosophies people follow, some are more inclusive/exclusive than others. If this community is content with an estimated 1-3 percent share of the desktop market even in the face of probably Microsoft's biggest bungle of all time (Vista), then just keep the focus on having this as a hobbyist/server OS. Heck, I can't wait to get the hang of this hobby. It's just a shame that the golden opportunity for Linux Desktops to break out seems to be slipping away. The golden opportunity is: the Great Recession, the Vista débâcle and Windows 7 hasn't even hit Service Pack 1 yet, and a lot of unemployed folks trying to upgrade their skills while they wait for the job market to recover. Computers are now found in about every line of work, but in spite of GNU/Linux's many great tools (Open Office, speedy networking, Firefox, and free optional software as far as the eye can see), it isn't making inroads.

Vista had a complete overhaul of the TCP/IP stack compared to XP (which a Microsoftie told me had basically the same IP stack as Windows 3.11). I ended up downloading the same ISO twice in rapid succession, once in Kubuntu 9.10 x64 and once in Vista x64. The Kubuntu download was about 3X faster. I was floored. This is the kind of thing that kept me going like a nut for 2 solid weeks. But I ran out of time.

Re: Should newbies be steered to the latest version of Ubuntu?

Well, actually Ubuntu is not the easiest Linux. It is sort of intermediate, which is probably why it remains popular with power users.

If you want to give a new and unsophisticated user an easy to use system that will install and work properly right off the bat, then the older distros like Mandriva, Fedora or Suse cannot be beat, with maybe Mint in there too, but not Ubuntu I am sad to say.

Re: Ubuntu newbies are guinea pigs

OP: So what are you suggesting? That we have a cutting-edge version for the adventurous and a more stable version for those users who need stability? What a great idea, let's start a petition,

Hold on - Ubuntu does that already. Curses, foiled again!

you are right, but consider this:

the user who knows what he wants (you, me) will end up with either the current version or LTS, depending on his preference, but the new user will go to ubuntu.com, click Download, and end up with the current, less stable version, because that's what you get when you click download. Never underestimate the suggestive power of the default choice.

I therefore would suggest switching the default download option, so the "newbies" get the stable, and the experienced will make their choice, as always.

Last edited by Andreas1; January 23rd, 2010 at 10:08 AM.

As you can see from my history, i was once an enthusiastic ubuntu user. I would hereby like to assert that i no longer recommend using ubuntu to anyone. I recommend using one of the many distributions that do not include ad-/spyware by default.